Nordic Bakery – A taste of Scandinavia

London is packed with small coffee shops and restaurants showcasing food from all continents. As a cosmopolitan and multicultural capital, the city caters for every taste from French to Italian or Vietnamese. So if you are looking for Scandinavian food, you are bound to find one within the square mile! A couple of days ago, I went to a cool café called Nordic Bakery. The first shop opened 10 years ago, so this is not a new brand but a well-established coffee shop with three other branches in Central London. Here is my review.

Tucked in the corner of the trendy yet quiet street off Chiltern Street, Nordic Bakery offers a quiet place to sip your coffee just a short walking distance from the busy Baker Street tube station. The cafe is also very close to the trendy and posh Marylebone High Street.

Step inside and you will be welcomed by a very Nordic decor (yes, the clue is in the name) with lots of wood, dark colours and bare walls. The only thing you can see on the walls are the posters in the above photo. The bare walls make the bakery a relaxing environment. The cafe/bakery is small but busy with locals and tourists of all age. Even though it is busy, it is intimate enough so people can have a meeting or a quiet conversation with friends.

After tasting so many Scandinavian pastries during my weekend in Copenhagen, I was dying to have more of the cinnamon bun coupled with a nice cup of coffee. After entering the cafe, I was not disappointed. The coffee was delicious and fairly priced for central London standard. The sticky cinnamon bun “star item of the bakery” tasted very good too. There were lots of people ordering coffee and cinnamon to go.

So aside for cinnamon bun and great coffee, what else is on the menu?

The place offers genuine Nordic recipes, from treats like blueberry and lingonberry buns to blueberry and rye muffin and even gluten-free pastries. If you prefer eating something a little saltier, you will find good salad options as well as delicious fresh open sandwiches made with rye bread. Try Gravadlax, a cured salmon with cucumber on dark rye bread, it’s to die for.